YIVO Summer Language Program in Yiddish

[Rich Dikeman <rd125...>]

1999 COLUMBIA/YIVO YIDDISH SUMMER PROGRAM
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

Applications are now being accepted for the Uriel Weinreich Program in
Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture, which will take place on the
Columbia University campus from June 28 to August 6, 1999.  The program,
jointly sponsored by the Max Weinreich Center of the YIVO Institute for
Jewish Research and Columbia University, is a six-week, non- matriculating,
three-credit college course offered on four levels: elementary, intermediate
I, intermediate II and advanced.  The program proper will be preceded by an
optional two-week review session for intermediate and advanced students
beginning on June 15.  Elementary students with no reading or writing
knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet are required to attend a one-day reading
and writing workshop on Sunday, June 27.
People worldwide have discovered the importance of Yiddish as a key to
understanding a significant component of the Jewish heritage.  Every summer
since 1968, several dozen people from diverse backgrounds, professional
pursuits and places as far-ranging as Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary,
Slovakia, Argentina, Chile, China and Australia make their way to New York
City to study Yiddish in the world's first and most acclaimed, college-level
Yiddish-language program.  Many summer program students have gone on to
become fellows of the Max Weinreich Center, an accredited institute for
advanced study of East European and American Jewish history and culture.
Others have entered graduate programs in Jewish studies offered by major
universities throughout North America, Europe and Israel.  The program has
thus served as an essential stepping stone in the careers of such prominent
scholars in the field of Yiddish as Janet Hadda, Irena Klepfisz, Jack
Kugelmass and Michael Stanislawski.
Participants in the program not only learn the fundamentals of Yiddish
grammar and read Yiddish literary classics, but also explore the riches of
East European and American Jewish culture through lectures in Yiddish and
English, Yiddish films, Yiddish conversation groups and a variety of
workshops in translation, theater, folksong and traditional dance.  As a
means of expanding the opportunities for verbal practice and creating a
feeling of camaraderie, out-of-towners are given the option of staying in
single rooms in  Yidish-hoyz, a Yiddish dormitory suite on campus.
Excursions to Jewish points of interest in and outside of New York City add
depth and immediacy to subjects covered in the classroom.  Dr. Lisa Epstein,
Director of Research at YIVO, has called the program "an intensive,
intellectually stimulating experience, whose rewards remain throughout one's
lifetime."  For an application including information on housing and partial
scholarships, call, fax or write to Yankl Salant, Director of Yiddish Lan

guage Programs, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street, New
York, NY 10011, (212) 246-6080, ext. 123, fax (212) 292-1892, e- mail
<YIVOsummer (at) aol(dot)com>.  The deadline for receipt of scholarship 
materials is
March 24.


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